TRIPLE-MURDER CASE CLOSER TO NEW TRIAL

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that a hearing must be held by a Will County judge to determine whether a man convicted of a triple murder in 1990 should have a new trial because too many women were excluded from the jury that convicted him.

By a 3-1 vote, the state's high court said lawyers for Michael Blackwell, who was sentenced to death by a judge, can find out whether decisions by prosecutors to use 15 of their 17 peremptory challenges in jury selection to eliminate women was gender discrimination.